Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage.These days, the image is more powerful than ever. Blame it on the rise of the meme — a new form of icon that's malleable, quick to spread (and even quicker to grow stale). So, it only makes sense that one such icon, Pharrell's hat (sure, he's worn a lot of hats, but you know which one we're talking about — and that's the point), has now been deemed an important enough cultural symbol to be displayed in a museum.
After the Vivienne Westwood-designed cap made its debut at the 2014 Grammys, Arby's caused a stir on social media by asking Pharrell to return what it insisted was, in fact, its signature brown derby. Arby's eventually purchased the hat at a charity auction for $40,000.
Now, the restaurant is lending the famous headgear to Washington, D.C.'s Newseum, a museum of news and journalism, in a nod to the growing influence of social media on the way people engage with the news. And, we feel, a fitting one. Better fitting, even, than that rather oversized hat.
Click through for more information, and to see a sweet video depicting the hat's journey to the nation's capital. Not bad for a topper possibly inspired by roast beef sandwiches.(Huffington Post)